Amazon on Tuesday launched its Appstore for Android and the effort may hint at a bigger strategy for tablets.

Launching an Amazon Android store is an interesting trial balloon on the way to a broader strategy. The promise with Amazon’s Appstore for Android is that the software is vetted. The store is launching with 3,800 apps and the major categories are well covered.

It’s likely that other developers will take Amazon’s store more seriously now that it has launched.

I haven’t had a chance to take the store for a spin due to download issues. My Android device is set up to download the app, but it won’t take when I go to the URL. Other folks such as James Kendrick haven’t had any issues.

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Amazon to Open Android App Store as Apple Sues

The Amazon Appstore, which will be accessible at Amazon.com/appstore and through a mobile app, will sell applications for Android phones and tablets. It will also encroach on Google’s territory by providing Android users with a new way to buy apps that cuts Google out of the equation.

The store, which Amazon initially announced in January, prompted a trademark infringement suit on Friday from Apple, which claims ownership of the App Store name. “We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers,” Apple said in a statement late Monday. Amazon said it had a policy of not commenting on litigation.

Because Android is an open platform, unlike Apple’s, other companies can open stores that sell Android apps. But Amazon is perhaps a more formidable competitor than others because people are used to buying things through the site and its mobile apps — and many have stored their credit card numbers on Amazon for years.

Amazon will provide a few things that Google’s Android Market does not, said Aaron Rubenson, category leader for the Appstore at Amazon, by throwing its marketing and e-commerce expertise behind the new service.

“We spent years building shopping features that help customers find the products that are relevant to them from amidst a massive selection,” Mr. Rubenson said, “and we’re excited to apply those capabilities to the apps market.”

For instance, it will use the recommendation algorithm that Amazon uses on its Web site to suggest certain apps, so if someone shops for March Madness gear on Amazon.com, the Appstore would recommend basketball apps. It will also offer a paid app for free every day, beginning with Angry Birds Rio. And users can test apps on the Web site before buying them.

The recommendation engine may be most important. There are so many apps that Apple, Google and others have struggled to suggest the right ones to users. For a long time, Google’s Android Market was quite difficult to search, but Google recently introduced a new and improved Android Market. A Google spokesman declined to comment on Amazon’s Android app store.

For app developers, the biggest difference between Amazon’s app store and others is that Amazon will set the prices the apps will sell for. Developers will suggest a price, but Amazon could sell them for a different price — potentially less than the sale price on the Android Market. Amazon will pay developers the greater of either 70 percent of the sale price, which is the standard revenue-share percentage for app stores, or 20 percent of the price the developer suggests the app sells for.

Unlike Google, Amazon will review apps before they are sold, but will only block them if they don’t work or if they put the customer’s data at risk, Mr. Rubenson said. That is somewhere in between the policies of Apple, which has blocked apps for other reasons, and Google, which doesn’t review them and faced the consequences this month when malware snuck into the Android Market.

As for whether the Kindle, Amazon’s e-reader, could eventually run the Android operating system, Mr. Rubenson said there is “nothing that we’ve announced.” Amazon is, however, considering selling apps for platforms other than Android.

Amazon.com is entering the mobile app business with an Android app store that is scheduled to open Tuesday. The store’s name has already prompted a lawsuit from Apple.

The cast of Big Love on the set of their season finale

In its final episode, Big Love pushes the Henrickson clan to their breaking point, as Bill faces both a lengthy prison sentence for statutory rape charges and the loss of the family's business. But Bill also receives his true testimony in his church—a nod from Mormon founder Joseph Smith's wife Emma (Rebecca Wisocky)—and he restores the true balance that had been thwarted at Juniper Creek. Bill can now lead his flock of believers into the light.

Or he would have—if his life hadn't been so brutally taken from him by a former friend. But Bill's death accomplishes something that Barb, Nicki, and Margene had struggled with for the past five seasons: it finally unifies the three sister wives in an unbreakable bond. In the final minutes of the show—11 months after Bill's shooting—these three find the common ground they've been fighting for throughout the entire series. And Barb, who struggled with her questions of faith, gains the priesthood she's long sought after and leads the righteous into a new beginning.

For a show that, at its core, has been about families and faith, it was a perfect way to end the remarkable series, as heartbreaking as it was. The 12 scenes selected below from Big Love's five seasons exemplify the way that the show shifted effortlessly from domestic drama to faith-based vision quest, and from the mundane to the divine.

The shocking Sunday series finale of HBO's polygamist family drama found the Henricksons coming together just as everything fell apart. Jace Lacob has the best moments from the last five seasons, but be forewarned: SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!

When Big Love began in 2006, the Henrickson family's problems were at first limited to the challenges facing four adults in a plural marriage: questions of sharing, solidarity, and personal secrets. They were an ordinary family in some extraordinary circumstances and creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer opened a window into a world that few of us will ever see: one of compounds, fundamentalists, intense faith, and vengeful adversaries.

Big Love, American Style

This all came to a head in the controversial fourth season, which tried to cram an incredible amount of craziness into only nine episodes. Bill Paxton, who defends the season for its ambition (though ambition, as always, doesn’t equal achievement), seems to think that the negative reactions cost the show the chance to have a longer run:

I grant you that last season may have tried to put too big a foot in too big a shoe, but they were cramming those episodes chock full of great stuff. I was surprised that we were so taken to task for it. And it did not help us keep the show going. If [people] would just watch it again, they’d realize that we put too many ingredients in the stew, but the show’s always been so ambitious and so well written and so full of stuff. I personally grew to resent that whole brouhaha and I think that it ultimately killed the show. Again, I don’t know the political ins and outs of that, but I know that it didn’t help us going into Season 5.

Of course it could be that the show was simply unlucky that there wasn’t a polygamy craze in pop culture to compare with the vampire craze that helped lift True Blood to smash hit status. In any case, in preparation for tonight’s finale, Jace Lacob collects together 10 memorable moments from the run of Big Love, most of them from the third season.

Tonight is the series finale of Big Love, one of the key shows of what we might call the HBO interregnum — the period after the first generation of drama hits went away (it was a year after the end of Six Feet Under and a year before the end of The Sopranos) and it seemed unable to come up with new shows of the same impact. Big Love is sort of a transitional show. It follows the pattern of those HBO successes: a stylish melodrama with a sense of humour and a commitment to showing the dark side of a typical TV genre (in this case, the family drama). But it got broader and soapier than they did, and seemed to use stories as metaphors for topical issues almost in the way that science fiction shows do. That’s a format that True Blood would eventually use, but Big Love arguably got caught in the middle of that transition, never quite sure if it wanted to be a serious drama or a crazy soap.

Dave Wolf

WEAC has sent an e-mail to hundreds of businesses belonging to the Fox Valley Chamber of Commerce offering to put a sign in a window for those businesses that support the union goals. That is not sitting well with many members, according Shannon Meyer, president and CEO of the Fox Cities Chamber:

In the email, WEAC asks Chamber members to show their support for the union in its battle to save its ability to collectively bargain.

In exchange for signing a pledge that says they oppose limiting collective bargaining, businesses will receive a poster they can put in their window so union members with “substantially less discretionary money to spend” can support those businesses which support them.

[snip]

“There is veiled threat within the email that’s stating, put this poster in your window and we’ll make sure your business isn’t boycotted, but if you don’t it’s very clear that if you don’t those businesses are going to be boycotted in the future,” Meyer said.

In Wisconsin last week, it was the police and firefighters unions threatening local business* with boycotts should they not support the union efforts to turn back the clock on their so-called collective bargaining rights. Now, like a pack of wolves, the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) has jumped into the age-old racket of shaking-down businesses.

Familiar sight: Gonzaga beats a higher seed - College basketball ...

Marquise Carter scored a career-high 24 points, lifting Gonzaga to an 86-71 victory over sixth-seeded St. John's on Thursday night to cap a stellar day for the double-digit seeds at the Pepsi Center in the NCAA tournament.

DENVER - That "11" on the bracket is only a number. The name that goes with it — "Gonzaga" — means a whole lot more.

The Bulldogs have become too good to be considered an underdog anymore, even if the seeding may say so.

McDonald’s Shamrock Shake Gallery: Add to the Minty Madness

Even though I‘m not feeling my Sham as strongly this year, I admit that I still have a soft spot for this limited-menu item at McDonald’s. (Note: See Mickey D’s response to my Sham complaint here in a past RedEye column.)

Check out my Sham gallery so far. Many minty thanks to all the wonderful readers who are helping to populate it with green images.



Update: I will be talking Shamrock shakes on PRI at 5:45 a.m. on St. Patty’s Day (March 17). You can check me out one of a number of ways. So wake up early with me and show some Sham solidarity.

Update 2: Some radio station in Dallas made an indirect mention of our humble Sham shrine on the Kyles Files. Check it out and see if you can guess when.

Update 3: Operation ShamSub is hitting later this week, and will involve my Chicagonow sister Maya Henderson of Breath, Body and Balance. No spoilers, so you have to keep your eye on the blog.

Update 4: Keep sending me Sham photos. Let’s keep the mo-mint-um going.

McDonald’s Shamrock Shake Gallery: Add to the Minty Madness

Mega Millions winning numbers worth $172 million

In this past Friday night's Mega Millions drawing, there was no jackpot winner, but according to lotterypost.com, 11 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $250,000 prize, one of them coming from New Jersey.

The 40-year-old New Jersey Lottery outdoes many other states’ comparable operations in sales and in the amount of revenue it provides to the state. In 2010, despite a poor economy that has hurt casino and racetrack gambling, the state lottery broke all of its previous revenue records.



New Jersey's lottery players will be thinking green two days before St. Patrick’s Day. A whole lot of green.

The grand prize in Tuesday’s Mega millions drawing stands at $172 million. A winner would have the choice to take annual payments of roughly $6 million for 26 years or walk away with a cash option lump-sum payment of $108.9 million.

Mega Millions Winning Numbers

Hopeful lottery players are gaining millions of reason to dream again as the jackpot in tonight’s Mega Millions drawing stands at $172 million. A winner would have the choice to take annual payments of roughly $6 million for the next 26 years or take it all at once with a cash option lump-sum payment of $108.9 million. No one has won the jackpot since Feb. 1, therefore the jackpot has been rolling over every week since then. You should check your ticket now!

Rock and Roll Hall

Monday night at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, Rebennack will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Leon Russell and ‘60s girl group singer Darlene Love.

This year alone, the Recording Academy handed out 109 Grammy Awards. By contrast, only 605 people have been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since its 1986 inception. They include Rebennack’s fellow New Orleanians Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint, Lloyd Price, Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson.

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. aspired to be a professional songwriter, producer, session musician and sideman, like the utilitarian New Orleanians who forged his creative worldview in the 1950s.

Forty-three years after he reluctantly stepped into the spotlight as Dr. John the Night Tripper, his peers have welcomed him into rock’s most exclusive fraternity.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Glaring, Embarrassing Omissions

The Turtles, Paul Revere & Raiders, Tommy James and Mitch Ryder all had landmark hits in the 1960s–lots of them–and merit RockHall recognition. Nancy Sinatra was a true female icon of the period, and has a score more hits than “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’.” Laura Nyro didn’t have any major hits of her own, but wrote key ones for the varied likes of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Three Dog Night, the 5th Dimension and Barbra Streisand–and her albums remain hugely influential.

The missing Roc kHall travesty of the 1970s is the New York Dolls, who helped set the stage for punk rock. Like ‘em or not, Kiss did in fact “rock and roll all nite,” and Grand Funk Railroad was the ultimate arena/stadium rock act. And Joan Jett should go in, with or without her pioneering 1970s girl rock group The Runaways.

This website would also cite Chicago, Sonny and Cher, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Chubby Checker and Mary Wells–and could easily make a strong case for all of them.

And let’s not forget one special man who should have gone in long ago as a Non-Performer: Ed Sullivan. Ed gave so many Rock and Roll Hall of Famers of all subgenres primetime national network TV exposure–for which all rock ‘n’ roll fans are forever indebted.

PS Editor’s note: and producers–Richard Perry, Phil Ramone, and Richard Gottehrer, just for example, as well as Quincy Jones. And of course, the glaring omission: the late, great Don Kirshner.

PS I hope when Neil Diamond makes his speech he mentions all the artists who’ve been ignored. He’s been on the ballot for years. It’s only been with a lot of outside pressure that he finally made it. Believe me, he was never Wenner’s first choice.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 26th annual induction ceremony tomorrow night at the Waldorf is bound to have at least one indisputably great moment when Darlene Love finally gets her due, having first set the rock ‘n’ roll world on fire in 1962 as the voice of The Crystals on the Phil Spector-produced chart-topper “He’s A Rebel.” Neil Diamond, long ignored but equally deserving for his 1960s Brill Building songwriting and early hits, rectifies another glaring omission. I’ll leave others to sing the praises of Alice Cooper, Tom Waits and Dr. John–who are certainly credible.

This still leaves at least a score of music heroes I’d induct if given carte blanche, starting with Paul Anka, far and away the most important of the teen idols that made up much of early rock ‘n’ roll, and Lesley Gore, whose early ’60s Quincy Jones-produced classics include “It’s My Party” and the proto-feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me.”

That surf music royalty Jan & Dean have been denied is, as they say, a travesty. I’d say the same about Lou Christie, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most distinctive vocalists and songwriters. British Invasion group The Zombies have likewise been overlooked, despite its unique creativity.

080807bachelor 224x300 The Bachelor Finale: Emily Isnt Wearing A Ring! No Wedding? The Bachelor Finale: Brad and Emily Brad Womack chose Emily Mayna

I can understand the feelings they both must be having… not seeing each other for over a month, watching the show on television but being secretly engaged. It’s no wonder they’ll have to adjust to the real world.

Emily also stated on After the Final Rose that she is not ready to move with her daughter to Austin, Texas.

But, Emily says she is in love with Brad and sees her getting married to him.

But what about the ring????

Brad had to get it re-sized to fit her! Or maybe even get her a new style, not sure because it didn’t look like the same one!

But on The Bachelor: After the Final Rose ceremony, Emily wasn’t wearing her engagement ring!

Why?

It was revealed on the after-show that Brad and Emily have already had some issues. They had even planned to be married today but postponed the wedding!

Why the issues?

Emily said she had anxiety watching the show every Monday night, and was troubled by seeing Brad’s relationships with the other women.

But what about the ring????

'The Bachelor' finale: Does Brad Womack propose to Emily Maynard, Chantal O'Brien - or no one?

Chantal's Family Date

Chantal's outgoing vibrant personality goes over big with the brothers. She tells them she initially had doubts about Brad both choosing or not choosing, but now she's all in and she would get married on the spot. Pamela grills Chantal a bit about falling in love so quickly and Chantal talks about finding out who she is after her first failed marriage. The whole family seems completely smitten with Chantal.

When she leaves, they seem so wonderful and in love and he talking-heads that she is extraordinary, the family loved her and that he "will marry her" if "everything works out." Hmmm. What does that mean? What would NOT work out? And if she's not the girl you want, that's a weird thing to say.

Emily's Family Date

Emily looks like a little island Barbie doll. The brothers notice how much more reserved Emily is as compared to Chantal and they are concerned about the fact that she has a kid and brother Wes asks if Ricky's father would be OK with them moving to Austin, TX. So Emily has to tell the whole story and everybody is in tears.

Wes and Chad take the time to say to Brad that being a father is hard and this is an instant family. He can't not be ready to take it on. Brad assures them that he gets the warmest feeling from it and that he's very taken with Ricky.

Pamela is dumbstruck (in a good way) by Emily calling Brad "her angel" and hopes for the best for Emily because her life has been so hard. As she leaves, Brad is hoping his family can give him good advice. Does he not know yet who he is going to choose?

Chantal vs. Emily

The family sees it as "fun loving" on one hand and a "rooted-down family" on the other, which is kind of true, but it's not like Chantal is just some crazy party girl. I think Brad could really build a family with Chantal, but the family thinks she's to free-wheeling. The sisters-in-law think Emily is already fitting right in with them, since they are already moms and Chantal is the girl they'd call to go out drinking.

Pamela says he can't keep his hands off Emily and that she's the whole package - Pamela has cast her vote, as have the rest of the family. It's interesting because I find Emily a little boring compared to Chantal and I see more chemistry between Chantal and Brad than between him and Emily. Guess we'll see.

Chantal's Romantic Date

Swimming with sharks. And not little nurse sharks, these are great big honking maneater Great Whites. And while a fear of sharks is basically silly because they don't hunt humans and they're endangered and blahblah, that would still be scary. "I got no spit."

"You go inside the cage? Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark .... Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies. Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again."

Ahem. Sorry. That night, Chantal gives him a map with all the places they've been marked on it with a little narrative to go along. She talking-heads that she "basically traveled the world for him." Uh, it's not like you paid for it, chica.

She also has a wonderful letter for him expressing all her feelings. They part for the night and Brad just seems ... like he knows he's not going to pick her? And I type that not knowing the outcome, but it seems like that, right?

Emily's Romantic Date

After a helicopter ride and a hike up a lot of steps, they have a cliff-side picnic and he can't stop telling her how much his family loved her, which she thinks it's great. But then she brings up being a dad again. She's not sure if he has fully realized what that means.

That night, he says that ever since he met Ricky, he's wanted the chance to be an actual father to her. Not a replacement to Ricky her dad, but more than a stepfather. So she asks what that means to him, what his role would be.

He says it means unconditional love, a provider, a protector, a friend when it's appropriate and a disciplinarian when that is called for - good answer, Brad. But he's very uncomfortable having been put on the spot like that. Emily just keeps repeating, "It's not always fun." Uh, we get it, mom! We get that kids are hard. Sometimes I worry Emily isn't the brightest bulb on the bush.

Brad is getting upset about her repeated grilling of him, which probably has a lot to do with the fact that she's acting like he wouldn't be there for Ricky in the emergency room if she fell and hurt herself. Uh, I don't even know Brad in real life and I feel I can say with certainty that he would care if Ricky got hurt. I mean - good lord.

So Brad kind of turns the tables because this is making him worry that she's not ready to let him into their lives - that is completely fair, she's being a little nutty at this point. So he says he's ready and he hopes she's ready.

Emily is worried her head screwed it up and Brad is defeated at the rejection with which his declaration was met. Yeah, that was epically bad.

"The Bachelor" finale is upon us. Who did Brad Womack choose, Emily Maynard or Chantal O'Brien?

After the family meet-and-greet, two final dates and a supremely awkward conversation about being a father, Brad finally proposed to Emily Maynard and she said yes. Chantal was heartbroken.

But let's see how we got there.

Family Matters

The part of the show that is not a video recap or a coming up montage sees Brad gazing thoughtfully off his balcony out at the beautiful Cape Town seascape. His family arrives and it's his mom Pamela, twin brother Chad (hellooooo Chad), younger brother Wes and sisters-in-law Dylan and Prima . Brad is really overwhelmed with emotion, it's quite adorable. He also assures his family that he's definitely proposing.

Maulana Sakti Lubis: Arsip

Maulana Sakti Lubis: Arsip: "Arsip selalu terkait erat dengan organisasi penciptanya (creating agency) dan informasi yang terekam tersebut merupakan hasil samping (by-pr..."

Jalen Rose On Duke: “They Only Recruit Black Uncle Toms”

“For me, Duke was personal. I hated Duke. And I hated everything I felt Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms.”

Rose later clarified his comments, while still sticking by his stance.
Michigan — In the new ESPN 30 for 30 on Michigan’s Fab 5 premiering this Sunday, former Wolverine and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose professed his hate for Duke. Rose even took a shot at the Black players they recruited.

Jalen Rose Thought Duke Basketball Was Full of ‘Uncle Toms,’ Plus More on His Fab Five Documentary

“I was jealous of Grant Hill. He came from a great black family, congratulations,” Rose said. “Your mom went to college and was roommates with Hillary Clinton. Your dad played in the NFL, is a very well-spoken and successful man. I was upset and bitter that my mom had to bust her hump for 20-plus years. I was bitter that I had a professional athlete that was my father that I didn’t know.”

A lot of the hate was directed toward Laettner, who was considered the best player on the Duke team and was often the catalyst when people pointed out what they didn’t like about Duke.

“Duke was like America’s team and Christian Laettner was like God and I didn’t like him,” Howard said.

“I thought Christian Laettner was soft,” King said.

“Overrated,” Jackson said.

“Pretty boy,” Howard said.

Others had more disparaging words for the former Duke standout not suitable for using here.

{snip}

Michael Rothstein, annarbor.com, March 8, 2011

Jalen Rose played on the Fab Five teams at Michigan.

Now he’s helped produce a documentary about the college basketball program that created a culture shift in basketball with black socks and baggy pants. The Times hated the Blue Devils.

“For me, Duke was personal. I hated Duke and I hated everything I felt Duke stood for,” Rose says in the film. “Schools like Duke didn’t recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms.”

“The faces of Duke, I didn’t like them,” Jimmy King said.

“I hated Duke. I hated Duke,” Ray Jackson said.

“Coach K, you have Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, yeah, they winning and keep in mind they won a championship the year before,” Juwan Howard said. “I respect that but we are talented, too.”

Three Mile Island accident History

The Three Mile Island accident was a partial core meltdown in Unit 2 (a pressurized water reactor manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg in 1979. The plant was owned and operated by General Public Utilities and the Metropolitan Edison Co. It was the most significant accident in the history of the American commercial nuclear power generating industry, resulting in the release of up to 481 PBq (13 million curies) of radioactive gases, but less than 740 GBq (20 curies) of the particularly dangerous iodine-131.
The accident began at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 1979, with failures in the non-nuclear secondary system, followed by a stuck-open pilot-operated relief valve (PORV) in the primary system, which allowed large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape. The mechanical failures were compounded by the initial failure of plant operators to recognize the situation as a loss of coolant accident due to inadequate training and human factors, such as industrial design errors relating to ambiguous control room indicators in the power plant’s user interface. The scope and complexity of the accident became clear over the course of five days, as employees of Metropolitan Edison (Met Ed, the utility operating the plant), Pennsylvania state officials, and members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) tried to understand the problem, communicate the situation to the press and local community, decide whether the accident required an emergency evacuation, and ultimately end the crisis.

hree Mile Island accident

Three Mile Island accident was a partial core meltdown in Unit 2 (a pressurized water reactor manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg in 1979. The plant was owned and operated by General Public Utilities and the Metropolitan Edison Co. The Three Mile Island accident began about 4:00 a.m. on March 28, 1979, when the plant experienced a failure in the secondary, non nuclear section of the plant.

Daylight Savings Time to Start Sunday March 13

Sunday should start out partly cloudy but conditions will grow to mostly cloudy in the afternoon, with a high temperature around 70 degrees. Winds will be out of the southwest at 5 to 10 mph. There is a 20 percent chance of rain showers overnight, with a low in the 50s. Southwest winds around 5 mph in the evening then becoming light.

Don’t forget to reset your clocks Sunday night to “spring forward” an hour. When it goes into effect each spring, clocks are moved forward by one hour at 2 a.m. standard time, and the time becomes 3 a.m. daylight savings time.


Monday is expected to be cloudy with scattered rain showers and isolated thunderstorms. Highs should be around 70. Chance of rain 50 percent. It will remain mostly cloudy Monday night with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Lows will be in the mid 40s.

This male house finch [carpodacus mexicanus ] is ready for some spring weather too. This is a test of the new Sigma 150-500mm telephoto zoom lens. Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend. I may hit the road this weekend to do some more testing of the new lens.

The Central Alabama weather forecast for Saturday calls for sunny skies with a high temperature in the lower 70s and winds out of the southwest at 10 to 15 mph. It is expected to remain clear overnight with a low in the upper 40s.

Daylight Savings Time 2011: Longer Days, Later Bedtimes Posted by Maulana sakti lubis

For some, daylight savings time proves to be more hazardous. There are more reports of increased traffic and workplace accidents. Some say heart attacks rise during this time. Generally speaking, the biggest obstacle is a lack of sleep in our already sleep deprived culture.

For our family, it’s not so much the hour that’s the problem as it is adjusting to it being daylight longer each day. Somehow the change doesn’t faze me quite as much as it did back when my kids were babies and toddlers.

This Sunday, we’ll spring forward ahead, but lose an hour in the process, so while I am thrilled that after this cold and snowy winter to finally be entering the spring season, we’ll also lose and hour.

Kemba Walker Produces Like Jonny Flynn Did; Should NBA Teams Be Wary?

Flynn's final season with the Orange was his sophomore year; he was 19 years old. Walker is 20. So Walker should be a bit more advanced than Flynn was in 2008-09. As it turns out, Walker produces at a higher level than did Flynn, at least in terms of raw production. Walker is averaging 23 points per game; Flynn finished his sophomore year around 17. Both soaked up a ton of their team's offense; Kenpom.com's stats show a usage rate of 25 percent for Flynn and 30 percent for Walker. So again, Kemba is doing more.

But Flynn shot more efficiently -- a .567 True Shooting percentage vs. Walker's middling .537 rate -- and distributed more assists (6.7 per game vs. 4.3). Flynn was more of a natural point guard, which, when you're barely 6-foot (in shoes), matters. Walker's 6-1, and 6-1 two-guards don't have a wonderful history of success in the NBA. You at least need a strong passing streak; Evans has arguably failed as an NBA point guard, and his assist rate in college was 30 percent. Walker's is 26.7. If Tyreke is a two-guard, there's no reason to believe Walker will be a point.

So there's that -- Walker is far less a point guard than Flynn was, but scores more, but does so less efficiently. If there's a saving grace in Walker's NBA fate beyond vast personal improvement or some heretofore unseen UConn effect that is preventing Kemba from being as point-guardly as he could be, it's that Walker rarely turns over the ball despite his massive usage rate.

Walker averages two turnovers a game for a turnover rate of 10.4. Flynn's turnover rate was nearly double that ... and that's been a big problem at the NBA level. Evans has arguably suffered from the same issue; he can pass just fine, but when he does, it too often results in a turnover, which leads to Evans passing less frequently to avoid such. Walker doesn't turn the ball over. That reality could -- could -- allow him to be enough of a passing factor to make up for his size issues, which will serve to harm his ability to finish in the lane, get clean looks against NBA defenders and defend longer guards.

Kemba Walker made a magnificent shot to seal a UConn Big East Tournament game win on Thursday, drawing oohs from not just college ball fans, but from observers who hope Walker will do the same next season for their favorite NBA team. Walker is considered a fairly sure bet as a lottery pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, figuring to fall anywhere between about No. 4 and No. 12.

Star-divide

Oddly enough, that was Jonny Flynn's range back in 2009 after the small point guard led Syracuse through the Big East and to the Big Dance on a parade of exclamatory finishes. Flynn ended up going No. 6 to the Timberwolves, just behind the bigger Tyreke Evans (the eventual Rookie of the Year) and the more wispy Ricky Rubio (still in Spain). Flynn has been, for a number of reasons, pretty close to an unmitigated failure in Minnesota. Coaching and injury have helped, but the Wolves would like a re-do on that pick, no question.

That's where things with Walker get a bit tricky, because in their core metrics, Kemba and Jonny are really, really alike. But there's one stat where they differ enough to give Walker fans in NBA circles some comfort.

0 like Will The Khan Academy Revolutionize the Classroom?

Last fall, the Khan Academy began their pilot program for math in a few 5th and 7th grade classes in Los Altos, California – a journey that has been captured by a documentary crew from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Their quest is to ensure that “students can truly work at their own pace on their own time.,“ and that “students actually master concepts before they move on.” They also want to provide educators with “real-time data.” Their hope is that this will allow teacher to “ make much better use of classroom time, with more peer tutoring, project-based learning, and one-on-one coaching. Most importantly, we are making learning fun.”

Sounds pretty good to me. But your child needn’t be in the pilot program in Silicone Valley to experience the Khan Academy’s approach. They want to educate everyone, anyone, anywhere, and everywhere. Their website features over two-thousand videos as well as about a hundred “self-paced exercises” on topics such as “arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.”And all for free. You can check out the Khan Academy and maybe learn something yourself right here.

Technology continues to become of more and more importance in the classroom. But is it being used properly and to the best of its’ ability? Many would argue the answer is no. And one man is on a mission to change that – Salman Khan. Khan, along with his fellow brainiacs at the Khan Academy (and with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as Google), want to revolutionize the way technology is utilized, making the use of computers and videos to have a more positive and powerful impact. How?

Shantanu Sinha, the president of Khan Academy, stated in a piece for the Huffington Post that, “for the most part, we didn’t teach kids with the computer, we taught them how to use the computer. Most kids need no help and could probably teach their parents.” He added that, “in the end, computer labs were a side show, expensive investments largely squandered due to a lack of good content or purpose.”

The schools, they apparently have the computers. But the Khan Academy are on a quest to bring the content and “building the software and tools we think teachers and students really need.”

Suit challenges discretion in issuing gun permits

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The nationwide debate over liberalizing gun laws spilled into a federal courtroom in Sacramento on Thursday as gun-rights groups challenged how much discretion California's law enforcement officials have in issuing concealed weapons permits.

Gun-rights advocates argued that county sheriffs, who handle most such permits, must issue them to anyone who completes a training course and has no mental health problems or criminal background.

They are challenging a policy by Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto, who says applicants in his county northwest of Sacramento must prove they have a reason to carry a concealed weapon, such as a threat to their safety.

That gives Prieto arbitrary discretion over a fundamental right to bear arms guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, said Alan Gura, an attorney from Alexandria, Va. Gura is representing gun rights groups in California and groups that have filed similar lawsuits in Maryland, Massachusetts and New York.

Prieto's attorney countered that California law allows the sheriff to set standards and he did so to avoid an arbitrary decision-making process.

The lawsuits come as many states are considering an expansion of concealed weapons permits, including allowing them on college campuses.

Prieto's policy goes beyond those set by most California sheriffs by requiring, for instance, that applicants have "good moral character" and submit three letters of reference.

His seven-page policy limits permits to people who have been victims of a violent crime, those who can document threats of violence, and business owners who carry large amounts of cash. He will not give permits to people who cannot prove they face a credible threat of violence.

Yolo County includes the liberal enclave of Davis, home to a University of California campus. But it also is dotted with conservative farm communities.

"These are arbitrary standards," Gura told U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England Jr.

In most counties, if a person asserts an interest in self-defense, they get a permit, "and everyone's happy," Gura said.

The Second Amendment Foundation, Calguns Foundation and three individuals sued Prieto in 2009, alleging his policy violates not only the Second Amendment, but First Amendment free speech rights and Fourteenth Amendment equal protection guarantees.

Sacramento attorney Serena Mercedes Sanders, representing Yolo County and Prieto, disagrees.

"Guns are not the same as speech," she said. "Shooting off one's mouth and shooting guns have very different consequences."

The recent spate of lawsuits filed in California and other states was triggered when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that citizens have a right to own guns in their homes. Sanders and England said no court has ruled that the same right extends to carrying weapons outside the home, and England expressed skepticism that the same freedom should apply.

"Like most rights, the Second Amendment is not unlimited," the judge said.

"The words `keep' and `bear' are separate words," countered Gura. "'Keep' is what you do at home. 'Bear' is what you do in public."

England fit the Sacramento case into the national debate that arose after U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and six others were killed in Arizona during a political event in January.

"Had there been five concealed weapons there and everyone started pointing and everyone started shooting ... wouldn't that have created a more dangerous situation?" the judge asked rhetorically during the 30-minute hearing.

A federal judge in the Southern District of California in December ruled against gun-rights organizations in a San Diego County case. That lawsuit was brought by a different attorney who used different legal arguments.

Gura said there have been no decisions in the lawsuits he filed in other states, nor in a similar suit filed by another attorney in New Jersey.

England said he will consider Thursday's arguments before issuing a written ruling. The judge also disclosed that he has had a concealed weapons permit himself, issued by Sacramento County's sheriff about 10 years ago.

That will have no bearing on his ruling, England said: "This case will turn on the Constitution."

Wyoming Adopts “Constitutional Carry” of Firearms

The right to carry a concealed firearm without a special license issued by the state is often referred to as “constitutional carry.” Wyoming is now the fourth state in the Union that recognizes constitutional carry, joining Alaska, Arizona, and Vermont. Prior to Wyoming’s action, Arizona was the most recent state to adopt constitutional carry; Governor Jan Brewer signed the legislation in April of last year, and it went into effect a few months later, on July 29.

It appears that the trend toward “constitutional carry” is likely to continue, with several states weighing adoption of measures similar to that which became law today in Wyoming. An article from the Associate Press declares that “Similar bills are pending in states including Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Utah. A bill has been introduced in Kentucky but hasn’t advanced while another was introduced for discussion in Idaho.”

In the aftermath of the Tucson tragedy, organizations opposed to Second Amendment-defined rights attempted to exploit the deaths and injuries that occurred when Jared Loughner allegedly attempted to murder Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) However, the fumbling efforts of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik to politicize the tragedy appears to have backfired on the gun control lobby: rather than scaring the populace into surrendering more of their rights for the illusion of security, January 2011 gun sales surged 9.7 percent over the same month the previous year—an increase which builds on a trend in gun purchases since November 2008.

Undoubtedly, there are several factors are behind the movement at this time to restore more of the constitutionally recognized right to keep and bear arms to the people of the United States. Economics and a greater perceived need to be responsible for one’s own defense are among those factors. In the words of the AP article:

The push to expand permit-free carry of concealed guns is coming from people demanding the freedom to protect themselves in tough economic times without the requirement to pay for state permits, National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said.
“It’s an organic movement,” Arulanandam said. “I think certainly we are leading the charge — I’m not hiding behind it. A lot of this is organic in the sense that it comes from people realizing that when something bad happens, it’s up to them to defend themselves and their loved ones. And when something bad happens, instant responders are better than ‘first responders.’”

Another factor in the push to expand the right of self-defense in the direction of the liberty enumerated in the Bill of Rights is the sense that many Americans have that their liberties have been steadily eroded for many years. The same concerns that animated Tea Party activists and other constitutional conservatives are active in the movement for constitutional carry. People who neglect the exercise of their constitutional rights may soon find those rights have been usurped by the State. First in Arizona and now in Wyoming, the people are pushing back.

An important step was taken yesterday in Wyoming toward restoring the constitutionally protected right of Americans to keep and bear arms, as that state became the second in less than a year to enact legislation affirming the right of its citizens to carry a concealed firearm without a special government-issued license. Following adoption in the state Senate, the vote of the House in the Wyoming legislature approved the bill by a vote of 48–8 several weeks ago, and Gov. Matt Mead signed it into law on March 3.